Pacific pivots on China

Dawn Blitz military exercise fueled regional tensions, aspirations

Japanese Defense Forces ground , air and sea units participated in a joint exercise with US Marines in the ongoing "Dawn Blitz" exercises at San Clemente Island on June17, 2013. The exercised for the day included "taking an airfield" where Marines did the initial assault then handed off to Japanese forces and an amphibious assault ship landing of vehicles and supplies from a ship to the island.
— John Gibbins

Japanese Defense Forces ground , air and sea units participated in a joint exercise with US Marines in the ongoing "Dawn Blitz" exercises at San Clemente Island on June17, 2013. The exercised for the day included "taking an airfield" where Marines did the initial assault then handed off to Japanese forces and an amphibious assault ship landing of vehicles and supplies from a ship to the island.
— John Gibbins

What does San Clemente Island, a military training range off the San Diego coast, have in common with an uninhabited archipelago nearly 7,000 miles away in the East China Sea?

The desolate outcroppings on either side of the Pacific Rim have become flash points in the last year between the world’s three largest economies, as the United States, Japan and China jockey for power and influence in the region.

The cross-drifts over Asia Pacific converged this month on San Clemente Island during a joint exercise by U.S. and Japanese armed forces.

Japan’s deepening security alliance with the U.S., waning support for restrictions on its self-defense forces, and growing interest in amphibious operations were all on display.

In the backdrop was the U.S. pivot, or rebalance, of military resources to the Pacific amid the drawdown in Afghanistan and postwar Iraq.

All of which leads to China.

The United States, which has about 87,000 troops, dependents and civilian Defense Department employees stationed in Japan, has been prodding Japan for decades to do more to secure the region.

Japan is stepping up now because of the rise of China, said Denny Roy, a senior fellow at the East-West Center in Honolulu and frequent visitor to Japan.

“A very strong China with military capabilities combined with an intention that seems unfriendly toward the Japanese” has recast popular sentiment in Japan about its armed forces, Roy said.

Restrictions enshrined in the constitution after World War II would forbid Japan from shooting down a North Korean missile heading for American territory, for example. Now the perennial debate about those limitations is shifting, with support building for a bill that would permit Japan to defend not only its own territory but that of an important ally.

“A couple decades ago it was easy for Japan to think, ‘Oh we don’t need to do more, we are secure enough.’ But in recent years the combination of North Korea and especially China, because China is a longer-term concern, has made the Japanese feel their immediate external environment is a little scarier,” Roy said.

Island chain

The tectonic shift reconfiguring the strategic map for the U.S. and its Asia Pacific friends and foes erupted last year over the island chain called Senkaku in Japan, Diaoyu in China and Tiaoyutai in Taiwan.

All three countries claim the barren rocks nestled in lucrative fishing grounds, shipping lanes and potential oil and gas reserves. The sovereignty dispute dates to before the first Sino-Japanese War of 1895.

Japan long administered the islands, which were privately owned. Then the Tokyo mayor, a man known for nationalist sentiments against both China and the U.S., announced plans to purchase the islands for his prefecture and develop them.

The Japanese national government, saying it wanted to calm tensions and stop construction on the islands, bought them instead in September. Widespread protests erupted in China, which saw the purchase as a unilateral move staking a claim.

Both governments had tried to defuse potential conflicts when their citizens boated out to the islands to plant their national flags. Now naval patrols cruise nearby, exacerbating tensions during what has been called the most serious threat of military altercation between the two countries since World War II.

The United States is officially neutral in the dispute. China is its main trading partner and investor in U.S. debt. As the rising superpower builds up its military, developing an aircraft carrier and stealth fighter jets, the U.S. has remained engaged with its strategic rival. It recently invited Chinese military to tour an American warship visiting Hong Kong and to observe the next Rim of the Pacific military exercise in Hawaii.

Dawn Blitz

Plans by U.S. and Japanese troops to storm a remote island during the Dawn Blitz exercises, which ended Friday in San Diego, were viewed in China as a provocation. A Japanese media report said China asked the United States to cancel the San Clemente Island training.

Two dozen Japanese journalists ended up broadcasting the event hosted by the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force and the Navy’s Third Fleet, which included Japanese maritime, aerial and ground troops for the first time. Four months ago, Japanese ground troops deployed to San Diego for Iron Fist, relying on U.S. aircraft and ships.

Capt. Doug Verblaauw, a Camp Pendleton Marine, hustled off the ramp of an MV-22 Osprey on San Clemente with his company of infantrymen. They assaulted the airfield, fighting off the enemy with machine guns and rifles, then formed a security cordon.

Japanese Chinook helicopters painted with a red sun and white corona dropped a company of Japanese infantry onto the airfield.

The two company commanders took a knee in the dry grass to peruse the map and coordinate their security handoff. Japanese and American military brass observed from the distance as the armed men with faces smeared with camouflage paint secured the island.

Amphibious future

Aboard the Japanese helicopter destroyer Hyuga, the vice chairman of the Japanese Joint Staff linked hands with a U.S. Marine general and a Navy admiral, posing for the Japanese media.

At the shipboard news conference, Lt. Gen. Koichi Isobe said Japan is just beginning to build its amphibious operations capability, to plan concepts, purchase equipment and train with allies.

“To protect the life and property of our nation and territory, it is very important for us to have that capability,” he said, according to the Japanese military translator. In Japan, “island defense is our imminent problem.”

But its alliance with the U.S. is “not only to defend Japan, but for the peace and stability of the Asia Pacific region,” Isobe added.

The Hyuga itself is controversial in China, which accuses Japan of being disingenuous by calling it a “destroyer” though it can function like an amphibious assault ship or mini aircraft carrier. The Hyuga deploys with helicopters but could be adapted for vertical-landing strike jets like the Harrier AV-8B.

Many Japanese are opposed to U.S. military bases in Japan and increased defense spending, particularly on Okinawa where some 20,000 Marines are based. In mainland Japan, where U.S. personnel are spread thinner, more view the foreign military presence as a necessary evil.

Marine Col. Grant Newsham, a Tokyo-based liaison to Japanese ground troops, said both countries benefit from the development of Japan’s armed forces.

Amphibious assault ships and faster aircraft like the MV-22 Osprey tilt-rotor might have saved thousands of Japanese from freezing to death after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami: “It was just heartbreaking, a tough lesson to learn because there are going to be more,” he said.

The U.S. and Japanese militaries are beginning to truly integrate operations after six decades of working in parallel, he added. “That is not efficient or effective or sustainable,” Newsham said. “Particularly at a time when our defense budget is pressed, to have a good ally you can operate with effectively increases your capability exponentially.”

Japanese troops, aircraft and ships will likely continue their San Diego visits.

Rear Adm. Hideki Yuasa, commander of Japanese Escort Flotilla 2, said it is difficult for different branches of the self-defense forces to operate together in Japan.

“Training areas like you have in Southern California, where you can actually conduct ship-to-shore movement and, once the ground forces get to shore, they can conduct live fire training, those training areas are very limited in Japan,” Yuasa said, speaking through a translator.

More than 9,000 Marines are slated to relocate from Okinawa to other bases in Guam, Hawaii and Australia. But U.S. commitment to Japan and the region is strong, said Lt. Gen. John Toolan Jr., commanding general of the West Coast Marine force. Two-thirds of the Marine Corps is stationed in the Asia Pacific. Last year, the Marine Corps revived its unit deployment program rotating forces through Okinawa to other areas in Asia.

“The Pacific is the most important area of the world for the United States in regard to economic development,” Toolan said.

“If there are crises in the Pacific, we need to be able to work with our partners, work with our coalition, friends and allies in order to make sure that is a secure environment, that the economic livelihood of the United States and other countries is taken care of.”